


Pretty Girls and Starting Conversations

by smudgay



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Romance, and the rest of the cast and what not, teen feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 03:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4464374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smudgay/pseuds/smudgay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Victoria Chase has had Max Caulfield on her mind for a while now. It's being trapped on a bus with her that makes Victoria realize that they might just be more similar than she thought. </p><p>Victoria tries to sort through her feelings as Max deals with losing her powers. Max worries that she won't be able to be the same person without them. Victoria proves her wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pretty Girls and Starting Conversations

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after the Kate Marsh debacle, though, Max is not suspended and neither is Nathan. Chloe and Max don't fight and all is good in the Blackwell hood. Also no tornado.

Victoria liked to hold her head higher than the rest, it didn't matter that she didn't feel like it belonged there, others would let her know that it did; reassure her. That was what she needed, the constant reminder that she was better than, oh, how she wanted to be better than. Like her parents, like her grandparents, like the long lineage of blonde, business-savy and ruthless people who dominated the art scene. It was in her blood to be perfect, to be at the top. Why would she fight what was written in the stars?

It didn’t matter that she liked women. That she longed to be able to fit in with the crowds ‘beneath’ her, that she wished she had the privilege of not caring what people thought. It didn’t matter that she felt like she didn’t fit, that no matter what she did, she didn’t fit in right.

She would play the part of Victoria Chase, the one above everyone else. The person she thought she was.

So, then why is it that right now, staring into the water-stained mirror in the girl's bathroom, that she feel so damn worthless? Like her work was for nothing? That the top of the social ladder felt like a place she didn't want to be? She could hear it, feel it, the voices, the stares, the blame etching into her skin. And who would blame them for blaming her? It was her fault after all, and if they knew how worthless she felt, they'd say she deserved it.

Victoria scoffs at her reflection, wishing she could stop _feeling_. Chases didn't have feelings, her mother told her as much. The blurry footage of scrawny, freckled girl up on a roof hugging the shaking body Kate Marsh illuminated her face. Max the hero, Max the one she envied most days, Max who occupied her thoughts. 

Victoria sighed, deleting the video off her phone. It was her fault, she knew it. Was this the price to pay for trying to cover up everything that made her feel small? Why was it that she still felt small?

She wiped a tear away from her eye, thankful for the darkness of the bathroom and the quiet of the halls.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, she didn't know to whom, but she figured it needed to be said.

 

* * *

 

 "Victoria, are you okay?" Taylor cocked her head to the side, trying to look into her friend's downcast eyes.

Victoria looked up slowly, "Do you ever wonder how Max ended up on that roof?"

Taylor shrugged, "Is that what you were thinking about? Wasn't she in the dorm all along?"

Victoria twisted her body, letting her back rest against the wooden picnic table as she sat there with her legs crossed. Her eyes scanned the courtyard, they fell to the small frame of a girl in a worn grey hoodie. She watched as the sun framed her body, letting the girl look like an fiery angel in a field of grass.

"Max…" Victoria whispered, watching as said girl sat against the tree trunk, scribbling into a journal. "Is… so… weird…"

"Yeah we established that, Tori." Taylor rested her hand against the soft, silk of Victoria's blouse. Concern for her friend was evident on her face, but Victoria wouldn't turn to look at it. "Are you okay? You've been spacey and staring at Max all day."

"Fine," Victoria spat, twisting her body back around so she could thrust her belongings back into her purse. "I'm going to the bathroom, don't wait up."

Victoria practically bolts into the girl's bathroom, thankful that it's empty. She finds her face reflected back at her in the mirror and she thinks about Max, a daily occurrence for her it seems.

This obsession is unhealthy, she figures, she wants to push the hipster from her mind but the soft smile of the shorter girl plagues her thoughts.

What is it about her, she doesn't know, but ever since she transferred into Blackwell, Victoria has spent far too much of her time thinking about Max and the mysterious ways the girl worked.

Oh God, how she needed a road trip, something, anything, to clear her mind.

* * *

 

Victoria liked to sit at the back, she liked to be able to watch everyone else without letting them be able to watch her. Unfortunately for the blonde, Max also liked sitting at the back, though, for an entirely different reason. And it just so happened to be that in this bus, empty except for the both of them, that Max would be tucked away in the back corner of the last seat, a comfortable and long plush couch. Victoria looked at her, her eyes following the black lines of Max's headphones; she was probably listening to some obscure indie music. The other girl hadn't bothered to look up at her yet. Victoria didn't know if she cared.

But, she sat at the other end of the seat, and smirked as Max finally looked up to see her. The brunette retracted her legs in shock, pulling an earbud out.

"V-victoria?"

The blonde slowly moved her head to the side, offered Max a slow, controlled smile and then pushed her own earbuds into her ears.

Max leaned back, knowing that, of course, their interaction wouldn't be anything more than that. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she was disappointed. She had been thinking about Victoria a lot recently, and she knew that the blonde was more than she seemed. Max's curious nature demanded that she break down Victoria's walls and get to know her better, but most other sides of Max asked that she simply leave Victoria alone. Good things did not happen when Victoria Chase was around.

And it seemed that was true.

Not soon after, the bus stopped. Somewhere on the road to Seattle ,in the dark of the night, and it took a while for both teens to notice the change.

"I'm sorry," the bus driver turned around, making sure he had the attention of both girls. “Looks like we're having a bit of trouble, there is an emergency kit with blankets and food if this takes too long." The bus driver steps out, leaving Max alone to handle Victoria's curses.

 "Great," she spat, wanting her words to sting "I have to sit here with you." With her face twisting into an angry scowl, she turned to Max.

 "You don't have to sit here, Victoria. You can move."

 "Or you can because I'm not going anywhere, hipster." Victoria twisted her body, kicking off her shoes to put her legs up on the seat she shared with Max. Her back against the cold wall of the bus, she had to pull her legs close to her to avoid having them touch Max. She knew if she stretched them out like she wanted, they’d end up touched Max’s butt, and that was something Victoria did not want. Then the blonde bent forward, pulling the emergency kit out from under the bus seat. She opened it, thanking the god she didn’t believe in for two blankets instead of one. There was enough food for both, and Victoria wouldn’t deny that she questioned taking more food for herself. Though, she’d be doing it out of spite alone, and really wasn’t much of a glutton anyway, not when it came to stale crackers at least.  Taking exactly half of the contents, Victoria tossed the rest of the kit to Max, not caring if she caught it or not.

It took a while, but Victoria finally settled in her spot, with her phone up to her face so she wouldn’t have to look at Max and a blanket over her legs so she wouldn’t have to face the cold.

Max, on the other hand, had a hard time getting comfortable, with her body positioned the same way as Victoria’s, the two were facing each other and it only made Max feel worse. Her heart had been pounding a mile a minute ever since the bus driver stepped off the bus, leaving Max alone with Victoria. What was she to do? Victoria had always made her nervous, made her face blush and her words come out in stammers. She was too pretty, too harsh, too much for Max.

Max let her legs dangle off to the side of the seat, not wanting to accidentally touch Victoria with them. They did reach out to Victoria’s thigh when stretched out, after all. She pulled the last blanket out of the kit and pulled it over her small body, leaving the food in the pack until it was needed, unlike Victoria who had her share of the food right beside her, already opened and already tasted.

Max let her eyes wonder off, looking at the dark forest around them, the bright moon that shone behind the trees, illuminating the tops of every tree. She glanced at the lights at the top of the bus, the cold metal bars holding their belongings; anything to distract Max from looking at Victoria.

In the end, it doesn’t work. Max finds her eyes falling back on Victoria, loving the way she looked with her beautiful face hidden by her phone, her legs pulled close to her body, hidden by the white blanket. Max figured she looked like a model, that this scene in front of her could be the cover of _any_ magazine. That the more she looked at it, the more there seemed to be a bigger story.

And then she figured that it was creepy, and she should really stop staring at Victoria, what a creepy thing to do. And so, Max pulled out her phone, checking her texts.

She decides to text her mother, letting her know that she’ll arrive late. She waits. She hears a cricket, a howl—a wolf maybe. In the end, it does nothing to let her forget who is sitting across from her.

Max wonders what Victoria must be thinking, what she must be doing and she fights her urge to ask; to reach out, to touch her, to let her pale fingers grip the other’s short blonde hair. Max shakes her head, recognizing that her thoughts are getting a little creepy again.

Her phone buzzes, she picks it up instantly.

_“Do you want me to pick you up then, dear?”_

It’s her mom, asking to save her from having to sit here any longer. Still, Max is conflicted. She doesn’t want to say yes, some part of her wanting to sit here, with Victoria, in the bus. It’s one of _those_ choices Max figures; she’s had a lot of those. There’s a consequence for this, and she won’t know what it is until it’s too late to reverse it all. She hates them; those choices are the ones that make her nervous again. It also doesn’t help that her power has been acting up on her, that her ability to reverse time is slowly fading and it leaves Max scared. Scared of being the person she was when she didn’t have the powers; awkward, alone and cowardly.  Not that she wasn’t any of those things right now, it was just that the powers helped with the fear. It made it easier for Max to be the person she always wished she was.

Again, for the umpteenth time this night it seemed, she looked up at Victoria. Wondering what it must be like to be so confident, to be so in control. What it must be like to have to live with all your choices like that, and to accept it, and move on. Does she get nightmares too? Of deaths that she’s seen, caused, been a part of? Max sure does.

“Stop staring at me, creep.” Victoria sighed, moving her phone from her face to scowl at Max.

“Oh-I ah....” Max flushed, pulling her phone up to look at it instead of Victoria. Her mother’s text is still displayed on the screen.

The next few minutes were grueling, Max couldn’t help it; she kept stealing glances at Victoria, the action thrilled and terrified her. There were things she wanted to say, to ask, but she could never work the courage to open her mouth. Victoria did the same, though, mostly because she wanted to verify if Max was even looking at her.

Inevitably, their eyes caught each other’s; Max opened her mouth like she wanted to say something and then closed it as she decided the better of it.

Victoria, on the other hand, wouldn’t stand it. “If you have something to say, Caulfield, say it.”

“Y-you can stretch your legs out, I don’t mind.” Max decided on, it wasn’t what she wanted to say, but it was the best thing for now. “You look uncomfortable.”

Victoria fought a smile, stretching out her legs on the side of Max, letting them rest between the hipster’s body and the back of the seat all the while Max’s legs dangled off. “I’m uncomfortable because you’re here, but whatever. You can do the same too. I don’t care.”

Max kicked off her shoes, pulling her legs up on the seat, they brushed Victoria’s leg. Max flushed but the blonde did not react.

Another painful minute ticked away, the air was heavy, like words unsaid loomed over both of them.

Then there was a shock at Max’s side, she squirmed. There was another and another and another, eventually, Max couldn’t fight the feeling it gave her. She let out a giggle, looking for the source of the tickling. Of course, it just so happened to be Victoria’s squirming toes.

“Stop tickling me, Victoria!”

“I’m not. I’m stretching my feet. Why are you so ticklish anyway, your fault, not mine.”

“I’m sensitive, Victoria! Stop!” So Max said, but her face was twisted into a wide smile as she tried not to fall off the seat. Even Victoria couldn’t help but to smile.

Though, it didn’t last long, Victoria stops wiggling her toes to look Max in the eyes.

“Do you blame me?” She began, trying to hold Max’s gaze with her eyes.

“For what?” Max asked, though she had a good guess what the answer was.

“For Kate.” Victoria paused, taking in Max’s face, hoping that it’ll turn into anger, into a rage that Victoria is used to seeing in others. Into disappointment even, Victoria is used to that too. Anything that isn’t the face Max is making now; the sympathy sprawled all over the other girl’s freckled face. “It _is_ my fault, isn’t it? Don’t you think so?”

It took Max a while to respond, thinking it over in her head knowing that she didn’t know if rewinding would work. “I don’t,” She started, “But it’s not like I don’t think you’re a part of the reason it happened. Because you are. You spread that video around and then you filmed her on the roof.”

“Makes sense.”

There a no more words. A cricket, a howl--a wolf maybe, then, Victoria speaks up. “You’re pretty cool, Max.”

Max, taken aback, can’t help the dropping of her jaw. “Where is this coming from?”

“Nowhere, you can forget I said it if it makes you happy. I don’t care.”

“I think I’ll remember it.”

“Fine.”

“Okay.”

Back to a heavy atmosphere, Victoria pulls up her phone again, causing Max to do the same. Of course, Max is faced with the text once more. Max starts a response, and then erases it. She continues the same pattern over and over again until she notices Victoria’s face hovering over her own. The blonde peers into Max’s screen, she smiles, showing Max her own phone. On it is a message from her father:

_“Do you want me to send someone to pick you up?”_

Max notes that it was sent an hour ago, about the same time Max received the message from her own mother. Max smiles up at Victoria, realizing that they had both been thinking the same thing: they didn’t want to leave eachother.

 


End file.
